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Late on Monday, May 4, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it is opening an investigation into Smith College in Massachusetts for its admission of transgender students, in an expansion of the Trump administration’s attacks on transgender rights.

The Trump administration is suggesting that allowing transgender women to enroll at a women’s college violates civil rights protections for cisgender women.

“Allowing biological males into spaces designed for women raises serious concerns about privacy, fairness and compliance under federal law,” said Kimberly Richey, assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education. “The Trump administration will continue to uphold the law and fight to restore common sense.”

The Trump administration’s targeting of school admissions marks an expansion in its attacks on transgender people, which have included preventing transgender athletes from competing in sports congruent with their gender identity, controlling access to public bathrooms, banning access to gender-affirming medical care, and requiring passports to match sex assigned at birth.

The Department of Education is claiming that Smith’s admittance of transgender students violates Title IX, the federal law that aims to prevent gender-based discrimination in education. Title IX includes an exception for all-male or all-female........

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